Greens Slam Maffei for Voting for Tea Party's Goverment Shutdown

Posted by Howie Hawkins513.20pc on October 03, 2013

"Maffei promised the voters that he was different from the Tea Party Republican, Ann Marie Burkle. Yet when the Tea Party decides to hold the government hostage out of their obsession with Obamacare, Maffei was one of nine House Democrats to vote with them," stated Ursula Rozum, the Green Party candidate for Congress in the last election in 2012.

"...to now cut off essential services, lay off close to a million workers, and blow off the economic consequences is unforgivable," noted Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for 4th District Councilor.

Ursula Rozum: Rep. Dan Maffei gave in to political extortion of tea party

Ursula Rozum, of Syracuse, the Green Party candidate for the 24th Congressional District seat in 2012, says Rep. Dan Maffei sided "with the political extortion of the tea party wing of the House Republican caucus" this week in a vote that led to the federal government shutdown. Rozum is shown on Election Day in November 2012. She received 8 percent of the vote in a three-way race with Maffei and former Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill. (Gary Walts | gwalts@syracuse.com)

By Mark Weiner | mweiner@syracuse.com Syracuse Post-Standard

October 02, 2013

Washington -- Rep. Dan Maffei faced new criticism today over his vote for a House Republican bill that led to Tuesday's shutdown of the federal government.

Ursula Rozum, the Green Party candidate for the 24th Congressional District seat in 2012, said Maffei failed to stand up against the tea party wing of the Republican Party that he railed against during the election.

"Maffei promised the voters that he was different from the tea party Republican, Ann Marie Buerkle," Rozum said in a statement.

"Yet when the tea party decides to hold the government hostage out of their obsession with Obamacare, Maffei was one of nine House Democrats to vote with them."

Rozum, of Syracuse, received 8 percent of the vote in a three-way race with Maffei and Buerkle, the conservative Republican from Onondaga Hill.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, voted Monday night with House Republicans for a budget bill that included a one-year delay of the new federal health care law's mandate for all individuals to buy insurance. Maffei told The Post-Standard his vote was part of a good-faith attempt to reach a compromise with the GOP and keep the government open.

Rozum said today that Maffei gave in to political extortion.

"Maffei should have stood up for democracy rather than side with the political extortion of the tea party wing of the House Republican caucus," Rozum said.

Rozum and the Green Party have also been critical of the Affordable Care Act and other policies from both major political parties. She was one of two hecklers removed by security when President Barack Obama spoke in August at Henninger High School in Syracuse.

"The Green Party doesn't like Obamacare either since the law's principal objective is to mandate that individuals buy inadequate and expensive health insurance," said Howie Hawkins, of Syracuse, who ran on the Green Party line for Congress in 2008.

"What Congress should have done instead is make health care a right with a single payer Medicare-for-All program," Hawkins said in a statement. "But to now cut off essential services, lay off close to a million workers, and blow off the economic consequences is unforgivable."

Greens Slam Maffei for Voting with Tea Party to Shutdown the Government

Two former Green Party candidates who ran for Congress against Congressmember Dan Maffei (D-WFP) harshly criticized him today for siding with the House Republicans in voting to shutdown the federal government.

"Maffei promised the voters that he was different from the Tea Party Republican, Ann Marie Burkle. Yet when the Tea Party decides to hold the government hostage out of their obsession with Obamacare, Maffei was one of nine House Democrats to vote with them," stated Ursula Rozum, the Green Party candidate for Congress in the last election in 2012.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party opponent of Maffei in 2008, said, “The current Democratic-Republican squabble is a classic version of their good cop/bad cop game. It deflects attention from the reality that both parties share a bipartisan consensus of lavishing tax cuts on the wealthy and blank checks to the Pentagon for wars abroad for oil and corporate wealth. Then they use the resulting budget deficits to justify austerity budgets that cut the domestic social, economic, and environmental programs that benefit working class and middle class people. Social Security benefit cuts in the form of the chained CPI may be the next cut they will call a compromise as we head toward the Debt Ceiling showdown in two weeks.”

The former Green congressional candidates said that one way Syracuse voters could send a message to Maffei was to vote for Green Party candidates in this fall election. Hawkins was Rozum's campaign manager in 2012. Rozum is Hawkins' campaign manager for his 4th District Councilor camapign this year.

Rozum said, “Maffei should have stood up for democracy rather than side with the political extortion of the Tea Party wing of the House Republican caucus.”

A continuing resolution without conditions would have the support of a majority of the House – if it was allowed to be voted upon. A number of Congressional Republicans have challenged their party leadership for caving in to a hostage strategy crafted by Tea Party House members working in tandem with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

“Unable to repeal Obamacare by a majority vote in Congress, the Tea Party has adopted a scorched earth strategy to achieve their goal,” Rozum said.

“The Green Party doesn't like Obamacare either since the law's principal objective is to mandate that individuals buy inadequate and expensive health insurance. What Congress should have done instead is make health care a right with a single payer Medicare for All program. But to now cut off essential services, lay off close to a million workers, and blow off the economic consequences is unforgivable," noted Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for 4th District Councilor.

"The Democrats and Republican agree that the health care system should continue to provide enormous profits to drug and insurance companies; they disagree on how much individuals should pay for inadequate health care coverage. They agree to protect the Pentagon over everything else. They agree on an economic agenda that primarily benefits the wealthy, where the richest 1% of New Yorkers got 30% of all income in the state in 2012, up from 10% in 1980. Both major parties attack workers, especially the public unions. The Republicans deny climate change, the Democrats evade action on it, and the leadership both callfor more fossil fuels from fracking, tar sands, and Arctic and deep water drilling," added Hawkins.